This invention relates generally to contact module assemblies, and more particularly, to reduced skew leadframes for contact module assemblies.
With the ongoing trend toward smaller, faster, and higher performance electrical components such as processors used in computers, routers, switches, etc., it has become increasingly important for the electrical interfaces along the electrical paths to also operate at higher frequencies and at higher densities with increased throughput.
In a traditional approach for interconnecting circuit boards, one circuit board serves as a back plane and the other as a daughter board. The back plane typically has a connector, commonly referred to as a header, which includes a plurality of signal contacts which connect to conductive traces on the back plane. The daughter board connector, commonly referred to as a receptacle, also includes a plurality of contacts. Typically, the receptacle is a right angle connector that interconnects the back plane with the daughter board so that signals can be routed therebetween. The right angle connector typically includes a mating face that receives the plurality of signal pins from the header on the back plane, and contacts on a mounting face that connect to the daughter board.
At least some right angle connectors include a plurality of contact modules that are received in a housing. The contact modules typically include a leadframe encased in a dielectric body. The leadframe includes a plurality of terminals that interconnect electrical contacts held on a mating edge of the contact module with corresponding contacts held on a mounting edge of the contact module. Different contact modules of the same connector sometimes have different patterns, sometimes referred to as wiring patterns, of the terminals and/or the mating and mounting edge contacts. For example, adjacent contact modules within the housing may have different patterns of signal, power, and/or ground terminals and/or contacts to enhance the electrical performance of the connector by reducing crosstalk between the adjacent contact modules. However, different leadframes must be designed and manufactured for each of the contact modules having different terminal and/or contact patterns, which may increase the difficulty and/or cost of manufacturing the connector.
Another problem associated with known right angle contact modules is that the terminals have different lengths between the corresponding contacts. The different lengths of the terminals, particularly with respect to terminals carrying differential signals, provide two different path lengths for the signals. When the differential signals are transmitted along different path lengths, the signal is degraded, also referred to as skew. Signal skew results from a difference in the time that a pair of identical signals takes to get from the mating edge to the mounting edge of the contact module. Skew is typically the result of different electrical lengths, which in turn are the result of different physical lengths of terminals. At least some known contact modules have addressed the skew problem by physically lengthening the shorter terminal of the pair of terminals carrying the differential signals. However, due to the size of the contact assemblies, it is difficult and costly to exactly match the lengths of each of the terminals. As such, skew remains a problem in many contact modules today.
There is a need for a lower cost electrical connector that addressees the skew problem with known contact modules.